Changes at the Pleasantville Writing

Center

Creating a community of students committed to great writing

Dr. Bette Kirschstein, Chair, English & Modern Language StudiesDr. Jane Collins, Interim Director of PLV Writing Program (AY 2011-

12)Prof. Andrew Stout, PLV Writing Center Coordinator

What are the issues the Writing Center needs to address?

•Large increase in the number of CAP students means more students need writing support;

•Not enough students who need help with writing use the Writing Center--using a tutoring service can feel stigmatizing;

•The prevailing view of the Writing Center is inaccurate: Many people believe the Writing Center is an editing service focused on polishing/correcting isolated assignments, but its true aim is to teach students a range of writing skills they can use on all of their writing(transferable skills).

The Writing Center's New Motto

We develop and improve the writer, not the writing.

In the 1980s, when Dr. Linda Anstendig ran the Writing Center, it was staffed by students. We are returning to this approach in order to do the following:•Create a model Writing Center based on current best practices gleaned from scholarly literature in the field of Rhetoric & Composition; •Increase the number of students using the Writing Center;•Make the Writing Center a high-profile, popular campus destination rather than a penalty or chore imposed by faculty;•Build a community of writers who take pride in their work.

The Return to a Peer Tutoring Staff

Peer tutoring took hold in the late 1970s in response to Open Admissions policies at public universities like CUNY. Open Admissions meant a dramatic increase in under-prepared students.

With our increasing CAP population, we face a situation like that of colleges with Open Admissions: meeting the needs of a growing population of less-prepared students who most likely have not bought into the traditional academic model for acquiring skills and knowledge.

Peer Tutoring Developed to Meet the Needs of Under-prepared

Students

"One symptom of the difficulty [of serving less prepared students] was that many of these students refused help when it was offered. Mainly colleges offered ancillary programs staffed by professionals. Students avoided them in droves" (87).

What Rhetoric & Comp Scholars Say about Serving these Students

•"Peer Leaders are important to the development of new students at a university" (Dean of Students Lisa Bardill Moscaritolo).

•According to current research, peers play a large role in student success and positively affect: o Students' transition to college;o Social & emotional development;o Student satisfaction with college;o Learning & academic performance;o Persistence & retention

Potential Effects of Peer Tutors on Students

•It engages both tutor and writer in active, institutionally sponsored learning, sending the message that students and faculty take writing, seriously.

•It creates a dynamic of mutual aid, where both tutor and writer learn from one another.

•It shows the university community that competent writing has not been lost in the student body but can be identified, developed, and usefully employed.

Peer Tutoring Benefits(most of this is verbatim from Gillespie and Kail)

•Peer tutoring taps into and improves the informal network of help students already offer each other.

•Peer tutors usually have institutional knowledge and savvy, allowing them to mentor new or under-achieving students.

• Tutoring provides peer-tutors with significant values and skills that they can take with them to graduate school and careers. It also strengthens their connection to the university.

Benefits of Peer Tutoring, continued

Peer tutoring is the blind leading the blind. 

This argument assumes that we don't have students who are good enough to tutor others.  As English professors, we probably see the best student writing on campus and are able to find excellent writers to work as peer tutors.

Arguments Against Peer Tutoring & Some Responses

(closely adapted with verbatim passages from Gillespie and Kail)

Peer-tutors do not have the requisite specialized knowledge to tutor in various disciplines.  

Students are more likely to have recently experienced course work in multiple disciplines than faculty tutors. Pace’s core curriculum and focus on a well-rounded  education prepare peer-tutors to work effectively with students who need writing help in several disciplines.

Arguments & Responses, 2

Peer-tutors are not as good as adjunct professor tutors.  

Both groups have strengths and weaknesses, but the crucial element for tutor success is substantive training, knowledge of the field, and supportive supervision.  It is possible to have adult adjunct tutors who do not meet those 3 criteria.  We are implementing rigorous and on-going training for the peer-tutors to address this concern.

Arguments & Responses, 3

Peer tutors are only available for a short time, and even then they have complicated schedules.  

True.  Recruiting, training, and developing peer-tutors is a challenging and ongoing task.  We did not make the decision to switch to peer tutoring because we thought it would be easier for us.  We are taking up this challenge because we believe it is the best way of serving our student body.

Arguments & Responses, 4

In consultation with Bette Kirschstein & Jane Collins, WC Coordinator Andy Stout has done the following:

•Created a mission statement and goals for the Center;

•Assembled an advisory board comprised of Pace faculty and students, and including faculty from other University Writing Centers;

•Reconfigured the Center's physical space, creating an environment more conducive to discussion;

•Changed the hours of operation to be more consistent, as well as adding Sunday hours;

•Moved the Center to an appointment-based system through online scheduling;

•Launched a new website that provides additional information to visitors;

Creating a Student-Centered Writing Center

•Introduced online writing consultations this fall;

•Implemented email notifications to faculty;•Distributed a new syllabus statement to

faculty;•Created new promotional materials for the

Center;•Added the Center to the Pace Passport for

freshman as a "destination";•Visited (and continue to visit) classrooms to

provide students with a brief orientation about the Center.

Creating a Student-Centered Writing Center, continued

•New writing consultants must take English 302, “Composition Theory and Practice.” This course trains students in writing center pedagogy and theory through the use of a writing center anthology, a writing center-specific peer tutoring guide, and other selected articles from the field of composition.

•Students are required to attend a three-hour orientation the first week of classes, which is supplemented by weekly hour-long staff meetings/trainings.

•Staff are supervised by the Writing Center Coordinator, Professor Andy Stout, who gives ongoing feedback to tutors on the content of their tutoring sessions.

Tutor Training

Our Interdisciplinary Writing Center Advisory Board includes:

•Pace faculty from a range of academic disciplines, including Psychology, Management, Education, Nursing, Computer Science, and English.

•Writing Center specialists from other universities, including Margaret C. Ervin, Ph.D., Writing Center Director at West Chester University from 2005-2012 and Secretary of the Board for the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association.

Andrew J. Stout, M.A.Writing Center Coordinator

Writing Center: 914-773-3942Office: 914-773-3949

Email: astout@pace.eduOffice Location: Mortola Library, Third Floor

Contact Information

www.pace.edu/writingcenter

Writing Center Web Site URL

•Bruffee, Kenneth A. “Peer Tutoring and the ‘Conversation of Mankind.” Landmark Essays on Writing Centers. Ed. Christina Murphy and Joe Law. Davis: Hermagoras Press, 1995. 87-98. Print.

 •Gillespie, Paula, and Harvey Kail. “Crossing

Thresholds: Starting a Peer Tutoring Program.” The Writing Center Director’s Resource Book. Ed. Christina Murphy and Byron L. Stay. New York: Routledge, 2010.  321-330.  Print.

Works Cited